The Delta emulator will soon turn your iPad into a giant Nintendo DS

The Delta emulator made a huge splash when it hit the Apple App Store earlier this month, quickly rocketing to the top spot in Apple’s free apps, where it remains today. Now, developer Riley Testut says an iPad-specific version is “near completion,” and will be released with Delta version 1.6. Testut says the app is already available for his Patreon supporters through “the regular AltStore,” which I take to mean the non-EU-specific one, rather than the Apple-approved AltStore PAL.

Of course, the iOS version already works on the iPad (and the Vision Pro, where I’ve been playing Metroid Prime Hunters). But a native version would let it take advantage of the full iPad screen real estate for better skins, including one that turns your tablet into more of a gigantic (or not so much, if you’re on an iPad Mini) Nintendo DS Lite. It also apparently will support iPad Split View:

After releasing the iPadOS native version of Delta, Testut says he will turn to bringing “device-to-device multiplayer” to the app. Multiplayer already works in Delta, but on a single device — which is nice for playing on a TV using AirPlay (although that introduces a lot of lag for me). Being able to play with other people on their own devices, especially if the app supports doing that over the internet, would be a very welcome change!

In a reply farther down the chain, Testut also says that Sega Genesis emulation is coming soon as well, as it’s currently in beta. It sounds like that also won’t happen until after the iPad version of the app is out, though.

I’m excited for the iPad version of the app to hit. Until then, I’ll be over here panic-drawing rainbows in Kirby Canvas Curse, which already works great with the Apple Pencil.